WNDX

WNDX (93.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station, licensed to Lawrence, Indiana, and serving the Indianapolis metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a mainstream rock radio format, using the moniker 93.9X. The studios and offices are located on North Shadeland Avenue on the east side of Indianapolis.

WNDX
CityLawrence, Indiana
Broadcast areaIndianapolis metropolitan area
Frequency93.9 MHz
Branding93.9X
SloganIndy's Rock Station
Programming
FormatMainstream rock
Ownership
OwnerCumulus Media
(Radio License Holding SRC LLC)
Sister stationsWFMS, WJJK, WNTR, WXNT, WZPL
History
First air dateFebruary 12, 1993 (1993-02-12) (as WXTZ)
Former call signsWXTZ (1993–1996)
WGLD (1996–1997)
WGRL (1997–2004)
WISG (2004–2006)
WWFT (2006–2008)
WRWM (2008–2017)
WYRG (2017-2019)[1]
Call sign meaningW INDy's X
Technical information
Facility ID71438
ClassB1
ERP8,400 watts
HAAT140 meters (460 ft)
Transmitter coordinates39°49′39″N 85°58′51″W
Links
WebcastListen Live via Tunein
Websitewww.939xindy.com

WNDX's transmitter is located off 38th Street, also on the east side of Indianapolis.[2] It is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format.[3]

History

Early years (1993–2001)

The station signed on the air on February 12, 1993, as WXTZ, "Ecstasy 93.9." It was licensed to Fishers, and carried an easy listening format similar to the original WXTZ, which broadcast at 103.3 several years prior. The easy format lasted until January 15, 1996, when it was dropped in favor of ABC Radio's now-defunct "Solid Gold Soul" satellite format, which played urban oldies, using the moniker "Gold 93.9."[4] The call sign changed to WGLD in February 1996 to reflect this change.[1] Solid Gold Soul was short-lived, and by the fall of 1996, WGLD changed to another satellite format, Jones Radio Network's smooth jazz format.

The license was sold to Susquehanna Broadcasting in 1997. Management decided that Susquehanna's modern country music "flanker station," WGRL "104.5 The Bear," would be moved to 93.9, while a new format, under 93.9's WGLD calls, would be placed on 104.5. To smooth over the transition, the two stations simulcast "The Bear" for the first few weeks of June 1997. Once the move was complete, the WGLD call letters moved to 104.5 and became oldies "Gold 104.5."[1] The frequency switch did not help WGRL's ratings, as it experienced a substantial ratings drop once "The Bear" moved to 93.9. As a result, the station became more music-intensive and several disc jockeys were let go. By 2001, WGRL simulcast WFMS in morning drive time while Donnie Claw, the lone survivor from the 104.5 days, hosted the afternoon drive shift. The end of The Bear came in November 2001, when the format was dropped for Christmas music as "93.9 The Christmas Channel."

Retro 93.9 (2001–2006)

On December 25, 2001, 93.9 flipped to an 80s hits format as "Retro 93.9."[5] The format lasted until July 9, 2004, when – following a five-day stunt of TV themes as "TV 93.9" – the station flipped to Contemporary Christian as "93.9 The Song."[6] The call sign was also changed at this time to WISG.[1] "The Song" lasted for a couple of years and saw modest success.

A month after the format change, in August 2004, WISG changed its city of license from Fishers to Lawrence, relocated its transmitter from Noblesville to east Indianapolis, and upgraded its power from 2,950 watts to 6,900 watts to provide better coverage of the Indianapolis radio market (it later upgraded to 8,400 watts in 2011).

FM Talk 93.9 (2006–2008)

On December 26, 2006, "The Song" was moved to 93.9's HD2 channel while a new talk format, known as "FM Talk 93.9," moved to the main channel.[7] The station's call letters were changed to WWFT.[1]

WWFT aired mostly nationally syndicated programming, featuring Mancow, Sean Hannity, Dave Ramsey, and others until November 16, 2007, when programming was replaced with the return of "93.9 The Christmas Channel." At Noon on Christmas Day, WWFT dropped Christmas music and stunted again, repeating the tracks "Lonesome Road" by Dean Elliot & His Big Band and "Swans Splashdown" by Jean-Jacques Perrey.

Warm 93.9/i94 (2008–2015)
Logo as "Warm 93.9" (2008-2009)

A new format, soft adult contemporary "Warm 93.9," debuted at 9:39 a.m. on January 2, 2008, with a commitment to play 93 hours of commercial-free music during its first week. The first song played on "Warm 93.9" was The Police's "Every Breath You Take".[8] On March 3, 2008, WWFT changed call letters to WRWM.[1] The program director and morning drive host was Fritz Moser. During the Warm era, "The Song" returned to the main station for six hours on Sunday mornings.

At 12:01 a.m. on July 2, 2009, the station abandoned its 18-month-old Soft AC sound. The station had finished 21st in the most recent Arbitron ratings and never mounted a serious challenge to main rival WYXB. The last song on "Warm" was The Beach Boys' "Kokomo". The station began stunting again, this time with construction sounds.[9] At 9:40 a.m. on July 3, 2009, the station flipped to Top 40/CHR as "Indy's Hit Music Station, i94" and launched with 940 songs commercial-free. The format change marks the frequency's sixth new format since 2001. i94's first song was The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow".[10][11]

In July 2011, the station adjusted its daytime format to hot adult contemporary, while remaining CHR at night. This did not attract many listeners, with i94 losing the ratings battle against WNOW-FM and WZPL, along with WNTR when that station flipped to Hot AC in May 2013.

93.9 The Beat (2015–2017)
Logo for "93.9 The Beat" (2015-2017)

On December 19, 2014, at 3 p.m., after promoting a "major announcement about i94," WRWM began airing a "Classic Hip-Hop Holiday Weekend", forcing rival WHHH to do the same. Unlike WHHH, however, WRWM announced the following Monday that it would switch to the format full-time, keeping the "i94" name but running jockless.[12] On January 26, 2015, at 9:39 a.m., the station re-branded as "93.9 The Beat", with no change in format.[13]

The flip increased ratings dramatically, going from 15th to first place in the ratings in Indianapolis with a 7.7 share. However, this ratings surge was short-lived, as the station eventually fell back towards a 2.7 share by October 2017.[14][15] WRWM's initial success served as the basis of Westwood One's "Classic Hip-Hop," a satellite-delivered format that was launched May 22, 2015.[16] Westwood One is co-owned with WRWM.

Energy 93.9 (2017–2019)
Logo as "Energy", 2017-2019

On November 17, 2017, at 5:30 p.m., after playing "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye" by Boyz II Men, and a 10-minute farewell montage and brief teasers for random new formats, WRWM began stunting with Christmas music again, this time as "93.9 North Pole Radio."[17] The station also began to post teasers on its Facebook page themed around the letter "E", and promoted that "E-Day" would occur at 9:39 a.m. on December 26. At that time, the station changed its call letters to WYRG, and returned to CHR as "Energy 93.9," launching with "...Ready for It?" by Taylor Swift.[15][18]

93.9X (2019–present)

The future of Energy came in doubt in February 2019, with Cumulus acquiring then-rival Top 40 outlet WZPL as part of a multi-station trade with Entercom, rendering Energy's format as redundant.

Therefore, on May 24, 2019, at Noon, after playing "Bye Bye Bye" by *Nsync, Cumulus flipped WYRG to a mainstream rock format as "93.9X". The station changed its call sign to WNDX on May 28, 2019. The first song on "93.9X" was "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, which began a commercial-free Memorial Day weekend to launch the format.

The station now competes with iHeartMedia’s combo of classic rock WFBQ and alternative rock WOLT.[19][20] Derrek Madden, the program director of co-owned mainstream rock station KXXR Minneapolis, assisted with setting up WNDX with a similar format for the Indianapolis market.

gollark: Ah, quintopia. Do you fear recent Minoteaur development?
gollark: Rewrite in Dale.
gollark: Idea: C compiler which warns you for all tokens and all possible combinations of tokens.
gollark: As a Rust developer, I define 5815 new types per file.
gollark: Do you not CARE for type-safety?

References
  1. "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  2. Radio-Locator.com/WNDX
  3. Staff, FCC Internet Services. "Station Search Details". licensing.fcc.gov.
  4. "Radio and Records" (PDF). www.americanradiohistory.com. 1996. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  5. "Radio and Records" (PDF). www.americanradiohistory.com. 2002. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  6. "Radio and Records" (PDF). www.americanradiohistory.com. 2004. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  7. "Few hearing talk on FM: Station's ratings plunge after format change".
  8. "93.9 WWFT Indianapolis Becomes "Warm 93.9" - Format Change Archive". 2 January 2008.
  9. "Warm 93.9 Begins Stunting - Format Change Archive". 2 July 2009.
  10. "93.9 WRWM Becomes I94 - Format Change Archive". 3 July 2009.
  11. "Warm 93.9 Indianapolis to Flip - RadioInsight". 1 July 2009.
  12. Venta, Lance (22 December 2014). "I94 Indianapolis Makes Classic Hip-Hop Move Permanent". RadioInsight. RadioBB Networks.
  13. Venta, Lance (26 January 2015). "WRWM Rebrands As 93.9 The Beat". RadioInsight. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  14. French, Alex (17 July 2015). "How Hip-Hop Is Becoming the Oldies". The New York Times.
  15. "Energy 93.9 Brings Third CHR Back To Indianapolis". RadioInsight. 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  16. Venta, Lance (18 May 2015). "Westwood One Launching Classic Hip-Hop Network". RadioInsight. RadioBB Networks. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  17. "93.9 The Beat Begins Stunting". 14 December 2017.
  18. "WRWM Becomes Energy 93.9". 30 December 2017.
  19. "93.9X Rocks Into Indianapolis". 24 May 2019.
  20. "WYRG Becomes X93.9". 24 May 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.